spotto

edit: WHY IS THERE A GIANT SPACE HERE THAT I CAN'T TYPE IN EXCEPT IN HTML? YOU'RE STILL RETARDED LJ

Touhou might be a big fandom and I feel like I should feel spoiled. What with the music arranges, the fangames, the PVs, the everything...and yet I still feel the need to complain. Not so much of what is happening in the games or plot or interpretation of characters themselves as I feel those parts of Touhou are constantly discussed, but the too-often-heard rant of: "Why I like things no one else likes and thus have no one to discuss it with. Whine/complain/blah."

My favourite game in the series is UFO. Yeah, UFO. Everyone and their dog however loves EoSD above all else. I feel like I shouldn't dislike a game simply because it's popular, but because of the utter coverage EoSD gets everyone and their dog talks about every single possible fact about it that I cannot find anything in my head to discuss either. That and I'm simply not interested in the characters. Yes I really did like Meiling a lot when I first played Touhou, but mostly because she was the worst-tier in IaMP and I like playing characters with huge disadvantages so that when I constantly lose I wouldn't feel as bad. Also I was somewhat annoyed with everyone calling her China at the time, but as I discovered the characters' personalities and such, I liked Yuyuko far more than anyone else in IaMP.

So already, early on I disregarded every EoSD character and liked Yuyuko. What is it about EoSD that causes people to like it so much, I ask? Yet the answer is always so obvious. First installment wins. Established characters. Well-documented memes known by just about everyone, maybe even people not into Touhou. But then you hear about them over and over and over and over and over and over again. There's a brand new 4koma/doujin up on <insert preferred image site here>! And about 85% of the time it's something about Scarlet Devil Mansion. Perhaps I should delve into the characters themselves and figure out what is so off-putting about them rather than simply how gargantuan the fanworks for a single cast of characters are.

And so I will, with Izayoi Sakuya. The character who baffles me the most.

Well not really, it's quite obvious. She is a maid. Many people like maids. She throws knives, which is a very badass thing to do. She stops time. That is even more of an incredible feat. She serves a selfish spoiled eternally-a-child-brat-of-a-vampire, somewhat odd, but her loyalty might strengthen her appeal. The traits are so obvious though, and are more so what she looks like or does than any character itself. Granted Touhou is not the best place to look for character, but fanworks of many kinds usually solve that problem.

And still I don't care much for her.

I don't know why. I simply do not. I guess I'm not really into serious characters, especially those who have absolutely no evidence of why this is so. There is no backstory there. Her being is an absolute mystery, which in a way might be an appeal as well. Yet Nue, a character I truly love, also lacks any backstory of any kind, but in this case it actually makes sense considering the type of youkai she is. Sakuya is also depicted often as a very cold character, which is again not a character trait I find pleasant at all. Besides many Touhou characters, especially one like Reimu who I do care about though not a favourite, is cold as well, so what is this reason I have to not care about someone so many others seem to have an undying crush on? She's just there. She is Remilia's maid, who happens to throw knives and can stop time. That is her purpose, that is her role. ZUN even kept it so when she stopped being playable. That is her entire character.

And I find it dull.

I suppose others will always question in their minds why this clearly capable human is spending her entire time serving a vampire like Remilia. I guess a concept like that is fascinating. Why does she do that anyway? Did Remilia defeat her and she is only honouring the result? Is she completely in love and possibly a perverted pedophile with the vampire as some fanworks seem to be convinced of? Did Remilia have some sort of rare moment of kindness that touched Sakuya's heart so greatly that she devoted the rest of her short human life to the vampire? I don't know. No one knows. Everyone simply speculates on and on and on, but a true answer will never appear.

But Sakuya does remind me of a certain type of character that shows up in media from time-to-time, in particular the shounen genre. She is not exactly like that, per se, but the whole cold, cool, and badass demeanor really does give off such a familiar feeling like so.

And I usually dislike this type of character, simply because every time I've run into them they are never done properly. A character who has suffered through a harsh and unforgiving childhood doesn't suddenly end up as an arrogant douche with a superiority complex. The only character I feel was done right is probably the most triumphant example and the character others attempt to copy: Vegeta.

He has reason to be a pompous, arrogant jerk. He is a prince, part of a line of royalty of an incredibly powerful and brutish race of people. His backstory isn't a whole bunch of angst, since he doesn't really have much sympathy for others being that his race is full of genocidal maniacs, so he comes into the story seeking immortality, which is an ambition all too common among villains. (I can go into a mini-rant about how immortality in Touhou is incredibly interesting compared to how it's dealt with in other places but here is not the part) Then he is defeated and would've probably gotten killed had it not been the actions of an all-too-pure Goku.

You see once his race was wiped out there was no point in continuing his princely duties, so being defeated was his next problem. As a proud prince, raised to be of a higher ground than anything else, being defeated is utterly humiliating, so he decides to defeat Goku and nothing else until he does. (It's not like there's anything else to do!) Of course he did not predict Goku's incredible improvement in the arts and so his goal of defeating him became more and more lengthy until he was involved in all sorts of other less-important plots that added to his character development. It took a long time before he could change, and thanks to time actually passing in the Dragonball universe, was able to slowly but surely become a better man than before. There were always obstacles yes (Becoming Majin Vegeta, for instance), and sometimes he almost completely fell back into his old, nasty habits, but in the end thanks the length of time he spent attempting to surpass Goku, he gained a family and finally obtained values other than the defeat of Kakarot.

Sadly I have yet to see another character equal the feat of Vegeta, though it is not like I've seen many Anime or Manga or read many books or watched many movies or whatever to see such, but from what I have seen it is disappointing.

Of course all this discussion comes to a question I should probably answer. Why do I like the characters I do like, then? Again as I've said before, Touhou isn't exactly the pinnacle of characterization. And so I can elaborate the point of immortality further here. The concept of immortality was first introduced (at least in the Windows games) in Imperishable Night with the characters of Kaguya, Mokou, and maybe Eirin. These characters are already immortal, so the whole desire for immortality isn't mentioned that often in this game, but those who are already immortal are fascinating. You have Kaguya who actually enjoys her immortality, and has been around for at least a thousand years so if you haven't gone insane by now then truly, you must be enjoying immortality.

There appears to be some sort of idea in society that immortality is utterly horrible. You will watch all your friends and family go before you, and at some point become so lonely/possibly bored that it is far too much to take. Mokou is kind of like this, though she seems more aloof than anything despite having reason to angst, and despite being one of the few characters who actually does in canon. Discovering that her nemesis Kaguya is too cursed with her state might've brought her hopes up, but unlike the loner Kaguya is filled with people around her who are very loyal to her. They would kill for her because they already have. They are fugitives hiding away from the moon, and Eirin is probably immortal too, so Kaguya will never be without loved ones. This probably infuriates Mokou. This is probably why they kill each other so often, why Mokou wants Kaguya dead in a genuine act of hatred while Kaguya simply takes it in as another fun hobby to curb her constant boredom.

I have no idea how Kaguya came about immortality besides basically drinking Eirin's Hourai Elixir, but how Mokou ended up like this is rather interesting. I don't know for sure, since I haven't gone about reading Imperishable Night's dialogue or backstory or god forbid the endings yet, but I'm sure she was simply very angry at Kaguya and only murdered the people delivering the elixir to get back at her, and to drink whatever this highly desired and dangerous potion might be. Perhaps it would give her incredible strength or something, or even if Mokou did know it granted immortality, didn't exactly have the consequences on her mind when she drank it.

Three games and two spinoffs later we come to UFO, and the topic of immortality returns! A large reason I love UFO so much that isn't because of...well I don't know, I'll get back to you on that, is due to Hijiri Byakuren. She too subverts this whole immortality deal that is often taken as an evil ambition in many works. Fearing death is common, but fearing death so much as to seek immortality? That is a rather interesting take on it. And as her entire character changes throughout her endless life, I actually see how becoming such a ridiculously kind-hearted person might even be possible. In the present there is no reason to save the youkai since Gensokyo is pretty much a haven to youkai, but in the past the situation was clearly quite different. The future of the youkai were uncertain, and so were the terms of her immortality. She was driven by greed and selfishness at first, but I honestly cannot see someone continually helping the creatures known to us western folk as horrible demons for so long all because of fear, greed, and selfishness. To hammer in the point, how Byakuren was sealed.

Being trapped in one place forever, especially since you're immortal. That is kind of a terrifying situation to imagine. The fact that she still wants to help youkai after she is free, without even knowing about the situation in the present is evidence enough that perhaps she isn't doing this for immortality, or at least not anymore. And the fact that the first thing a certain captain and her crew does after being blown out of the underground is attempt to free her must say something about such a character. The music only drives the beyond the point. I absolutely adore her theme.

Ten Desires then comes with even more immortality, but in a much more traditional fashion. People, humans to be exact, going through immoral methods to become immortal in any way possible. Compare and contrast this with Byakuren who too might have been immoral in some way, betraying her own kind to keep the youkai from going extinct. Yet the biggest reason I love Byakuren is not so much keeping the youkai alive and strong, but wanting equality with both races. Ever since Subterranean Animsm brought up the idea of actual hated youkai, I've come to love Touhou. I guess that's why I love these few games so much. Perhaps I just find that certain conflict fascinating.

This has been Spotto, who somehow squeezed in a DBZ rant between Touhou, but okay. I think I like shoujo stuff more than shounen actually, despite having loved more shounen works. I'm always enamoured by the romantic fluffy stuff between characters that shows up so often in Touhou and similar fandoms, and very rarely do I care for the actual story itself. Touhou is the sole exception.

(And yes I really do love stuff no one cares about. My favourite PCB character is Ran. My favourite IN character is Keine. My favourite PoFV character is Shikieiki. My favourite MoF character is Sanae. (And yes I know Sanae is technically the most popular MoF character but the Western fandom seems to hate her, something about replacing Sakuya or some nonsense like that. ;) But I suppose MoF can be an exception. I like Suwako too, so. ) My favourite SA character is Koi--oh wait no Koishi is stupid popular hahaha. She still isn't the most in SA even then though, adding to the fact that I'm probably going to start calling Chireiden "The EoSD I actually care about" since I find them rather similar. And my favourite UFO character is Murasa...if that wasn't inherently obvious. Who's my favourite EoSD character you ask? I don't have one.)

And yes you did read that right. Parsee IS the best stage two boss ever. Who is this Cirno or Chen or Kogasa you speak of? I don't know who they are. Kyouko is pretty cool too, but she's no Parsee.

tl;dr: PARU PARU EoSD!!!1!!